This blog focuses on news and information regarding practice in the federal courts in the Eastern District of California, with a special emphasis on criminal and civil rights cases.

Blog Author

John Balazs is an attorney in Sacramento, California, specializing in criminal defense, including appeals, habeas corpus, pardons, expungements, and civil forfeiture actions. After graduating from UCLA Law School in 1989, he clerked for Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. John was an Assistant Federal Defender in Fresno and Sacramento from 1992-2001. He currently serves as an adjunct professor in clinical trial advocacy at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. Please email EDCA items of interest to Balazslaw@gmail.com. Follow me on twitter @balazslaw.

Disclaimer

This blog is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this blog should be construed as legal advice. The law can change rapidly and information in this blog can become outdated. Do your own research or consult with an attorney.

March 2017

March 28, 2017

A Citrus Heights woman has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme.

Following a four-day jury trial in December, Dianna Woods, 60, was convicted of four counts of making false statements on loan applications, according to a U.S. attorney’s office news release. She was sentenced Monday in Sacramento by Senior U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb.

A Hanford police report says Michael Valdez was riding his bicycle on the wrong side of the street when officer Larry Leeds attempted to stop him.

What happened next is the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit in which Valdez, 49, and his attorney, Morgan Ricketts, accuse Leeds of using excessive force to arrest Valdez, actions that they say contributed to blinding him in one eye.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno last week, says Leeds used his patrol car to knock Valdez off his bicycle. The officer then punched Valdez several times in the face and The lawsuit accuses jail staff of repeatedly denying Valdez’s request for medical help, causing him to be permanently blind in his right eye. It also alleges that the Hanford Police Department and Kings County Jail destroyed evidence.

Sacramento City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby knew that “chaos” had overrun the life of her former employee, Sarah R. Novo, when she fired her five years ago.

But the issue of a federal court trial that got underway Monday in Sacramento is whether Ashby knew the cause of the disorder in Novo’s life – a toxic mold outbreak that had sickened members of the staffer’s family.

Novo, who worked as Ashby’s director of constituent affairs for 16 months, sued Ashby and the city in March 2013 on the grounds that they violated her rights under the Family Medical Leave Act when they terminated her. The case now is in front of U.S. District Court Judge Morrison C. England.

March 23, 2017

As the Sacramento County Main Jail handles more inmates with psychiatric problems, the Sheriff’s Department is developing a new section staffed by UC Davis medical professionals, social workers and deputies that can provide intensive mental services without 24-hour care.

The first U.S. inmate to have taxpayer-funded sex reassignment surgery says she's been mistreated since being transferred to a California women's prison, where she now has a beard and mustache because officials have denied her a razor.

In a hand-written federal court filing, convicted killer Shiloh Heavenly Quine called her new housing at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla a "torture unit." She said she's unnecessarily isolated from other inmates and denied basic items.

The Sacramento Bee has two stories here and here on a federal jury's $100 million plus verdict in Judge Mueller's Courtroom against the City of Sacramento and three county officials. Here's the start of the first story:

A federal court jury on Tuesday awarded more than $100 million in damages to two gravel mining families that accused Sacramento County government officials of putting them out of business for the benefit of the rival Teichert Construction company.

After a day and a half of deliberations, the U.S. District Court panel in Sacramento awarded $75 million in compensatory damages to Joe and Yvette Hardesty and $30 million to the Jay Schneider family.

The verdict also hit three county officials with punitive damages, including Roger Dickinson, the former state Assembly member who was chairman of the Board of Supervisors when the county imposed a cease and desist order on the joint Hardesty-Schneider mining operation. The jurors found Dickinson liable for a $25,000 award against the Schneiders only.

In Tavares v. Whitehead, the Ninth Circuit affirmed Judge Nunley's dismissal of a habeas petition for lack of jurisdiction brought by former members of the United Auburn tribal members under the Indian Civil Rights Act. In her partial dissent, Judge Berzon found that Jessica Tavares's 10-year banishment order constitutes "detention" warranting habeas jurisdiction under the Act. Here is the Sac Bee's summary:

A federal appeals court Tuesday rejected a challenge by former United Auburn tribal chairwoman Jessica Tavares and other dissident members who charged they were illegally banished and denied their shares of profits from the lucrative Thunder Valley Casino near Lincoln.

The ruling by the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, responding to a bitter 2013 clash in one of California’s wealthiest casino tribes and ensuing litigation, effectively rejected claims that the tribe “imposed unlawful restraints” on the “liberty” of Tavares and three other members by cutting off their income and banning them from United Auburn properties.

In October, 2013, Tavares and the other members brought legal action, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento as a writ of habeas corpus under the 1968 Indian Civil Rights Act. She charged that the tribal council for the United Auburn Indian Community wrongly denied her $40,000 a month in benefits and bonuses, based on casino profits, and illegally banished her for 10 years.

March 14, 2017

Amidst reports that Trump asked U.S. Attorneys to resign last week, some have wondered about the status of our EDCA U.S. Attorney, Phil Talbert. Phil took over when the Obama-appointed U.S. Attorney, Ben Wagner, resigned before the election. Here's the highly-technical scoop:

Phil became the Acting U.S. Attorney without any appointment on May 1, 2016. But there's a limit to how long one can be an "Acting" U.S. Attorney. So when that time ran out in November, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch appointed Phil to be the EDCA U.S. Attorney.

Federal law also restricts how long a person can hold the position on an AG appointment. Later this month, the district court, at the request of the Department of Justice, is expected to appoint Phil as the U.S. Attorney. There's no time limit on a court-appointed U.S. Attorney, so he'll probably serve as EDCA U.S. Attorney until the President appoints a new one. At that time, if Phil is still in the office, he will revert to once again being an Assistant U.S. Attorney because he'll be a court, not a Presidential, appointee. A Presidentially-appointed U.S. Attorney, whether they were an AUSA beforehand or not, does not become an AUSA when a new Presidential appointee arrives and instead must leave the office.

According to news reports, the U.S. Attorneys who had been appointed by President Obama and still remained in the position were asked to resign (other than the U.S. Attorney from Maryland, who is nominated to be Deputy AG, and the U.S. Attorney from EDVA, who is currently Acting Deputy AG). Presidentially-appointed U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President without civil service protection. The rest of the court and AG appointed U.S. Attorneys and the Acting U.S. Attorneys enjoy civil service protection and were left in place.

At least that's how it works under current law, though the law can change.

After a 4-day jury trial, a Fresno jury returned a guilty verdict Friday on all counts in a foreclosure rescue fraud case before Judge O'Neill in United States v. Calzada, No. 1:15-CR-0355-LJO. The defendant was remanded into custody after the verdict.